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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
This book is not:
A romance novel pretending to be an urban fantasy.
A young adult novel.
You won't find alpha males declaring the lead female is "mine". You won't find the obligatory love triangle.
This book is:
A really good urban fantasy story. The female lead is flawed. She is not a Mary Sue with amazing powers who everyone loves. The people who do love her have a solid reason & history for doing so. She makes more enemies in this than friends.
I loved the world building in this story. It was just enough to move the story along and keep you informed with how the world worked, without being pages upon pages of info dumping.
Fey stories are tough for me. Either the Fey end up being so alien that they take away from the story or they end up being to blah and boring. The Fey/mythos is this story found a nice middle ground.
Overall, a really good book if you are looking for an urban fantasy that doesn't revolve around a main plot of romance.
A romance novel pretending to be an urban fantasy.
A young adult novel.
You won't find alpha males declaring the lead female is "mine". You won't find the obligatory love triangle.
This book is:
A really good urban fantasy story. The female lead is flawed. She is not a Mary Sue with amazing powers who everyone loves. The people who do love her have a solid reason & history for doing so. She makes more enemies in this than friends.
I loved the world building in this story. It was just enough to move the story along and keep you informed with how the world worked, without being pages upon pages of info dumping.
Fey stories are tough for me. Either the Fey end up being so alien that they take away from the story or they end up being to blah and boring. The Fey/mythos is this story found a nice middle ground.
Overall, a really good book if you are looking for an urban fantasy that doesn't revolve around a main plot of romance.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this a few weeks ago, but wasn't sure how I would write a review that would do this justice. I honestly still don't think I will do the book justice, but I want to write the review before the new year.
This is one of my favorite books of the year. This is an amazing, intelligent, action packed story that I could not put down once I started it. Well, I had to put it down to sleep at some point, but I didn't want to.
Toby gets sucked back into the fae world and she really is just trying to fit in where she can in the human world. She's half of both worlds and wanted by neither. There is a changeling world that she can belong, but she'd rather not.
The whole book exhausted me and I can't imagine how Toby kept going after each ass kicking she got and gave. She has friends where she least expects them and enemies everywhere. I loved seeing the ways of the Faerie world, scary as it had a tendency to be.
I really look forward to the rest of the series as it comes out and anything else Seanan McGuire writes. It looks like she has a whole bunch of books out in the new year. YAY!
Five fantabulous changeling beans.....
This is one of my favorite books of the year. This is an amazing, intelligent, action packed story that I could not put down once I started it. Well, I had to put it down to sleep at some point, but I didn't want to.
Toby gets sucked back into the fae world and she really is just trying to fit in where she can in the human world. She's half of both worlds and wanted by neither. There is a changeling world that she can belong, but she'd rather not.
The whole book exhausted me and I can't imagine how Toby kept going after each ass kicking she got and gave. She has friends where she least expects them and enemies everywhere. I loved seeing the ways of the Faerie world, scary as it had a tendency to be.
I really look forward to the rest of the series as it comes out and anything else Seanan McGuire writes. It looks like she has a whole bunch of books out in the new year. YAY!
Five fantabulous changeling beans.....
Y’all already know I love Seanan McGuire. Wayward children is an instabuy for me, and I loveee middlegame. So I’m super extra especially much so sad that I didn’t love this one. :((
Imagine this. You’ve just been shot twice, with poisoned bullets. You’ve experienced almost deathly levels of blood loss, you’re sick and possibly dying from being poisoned, and you have two (technically four?) bullet holes in your body. Someone shows up right after you get shot and stitches up the bullet holes, helping you into the shower because you can’t stand on your own. In that scenario, would you or would you not immediately have sex with them, not even an hour after they stitched up the four bullet holes, not much more than an hour since you’ve been shot twice, poisoned, and nearly died? Besides the obvious fact that you really should be resting at that point, I just can’t imagine your body physically being able to have sex after the blood loss and poisoning??
That scene is basically a summary of how the plot of this entire book goes. MC gets ridiculously hurt, almost dies, then brushes it off like nothing happened on practically every page. It was so over the top dramatic that it felt ridiculous. I’m disappointed. :(
Imagine this. You’ve just been shot twice, with poisoned bullets. You’ve experienced almost deathly levels of blood loss, you’re sick and possibly dying from being poisoned, and you have two (technically four?) bullet holes in your body. Someone shows up right after you get shot and stitches up the bullet holes, helping you into the shower because you can’t stand on your own. In that scenario, would you or would you not immediately have sex with them, not even an hour after they stitched up the four bullet holes, not much more than an hour since you’ve been shot twice, poisoned, and nearly died? Besides the obvious fact that you really should be resting at that point, I just can’t imagine your body physically being able to have sex after the blood loss and poisoning??
That scene is basically a summary of how the plot of this entire book goes. MC gets ridiculously hurt, almost dies, then brushes it off like nothing happened on practically every page. It was so over the top dramatic that it felt ridiculous. I’m disappointed. :(
While I liked the book overall, 3 stars may be stretching this one given that 2 stars means it is 'okay' when I hover over it.
Everyone and their dog is going to recap the plot, so as usual, I won't. What I will do is talk about how the main character is thoroughly off-putting to everyone, yet they all love her anyway (seriously, how?). I will talk about how she is an engine of destruction via her recklessness, yet never really owns the fact that her idiotic rush gets people killed. She says, "I'll blame myself," but in a tone that indicates she really isn't to blame in her own mind, only that she feels some guilt rather abstractly. I'll talk about how the final scene is an exercise in frustration as character after character acts like a moron just so we can have some exposition.
Faerie is not my favorite way to do urban fantasy, but it didn't put me off, so that's something.
An interesting thing about this book is that for all the sexualized visuals (like a fight where October is pantless and possibly even more exposed depending on how you read it - more exposed is how I read it), and some gorey ones, it's remarkably low on the scale for graphic descriptions of sex and violence. I don't mind graphic stuff, but a lot of readers do, and that element may appeal to them. Even the big murder was sanitized a bit and the one sex scene was fade-to-black. She spends quite a few scenes in the middle of the book repeatedly losing her clothing, but it mostly makes sense in context (sometimes I read something and wonder how a character *didn't* lose their clothing).
I plan to read the next one just to see how it goes, if it improves. Overall, I like Toby's snark though I wish at times it were sharper. I am hopeful she becomes more competent and there is less stumbling about until someone tells her what's going on. But I cannot wrap my head around why all these people she treats like crap seem to like her anyway. And I am sure the one character that seemed to hate her that was never dealt with will either be shown to be a villain later, or will come around to loving October like everyone else. Or I suppose that character could end up dead. But I am sure there's no real middle ground here.
So here I am complaining the whole time but I think I liked it.
Everyone and their dog is going to recap the plot, so as usual, I won't. What I will do is talk about how the main character is thoroughly off-putting to everyone, yet they all love her anyway (seriously, how?). I will talk about how she is an engine of destruction via her recklessness, yet never really owns the fact that her idiotic rush gets people killed. She says, "I'll blame myself," but in a tone that indicates she really isn't to blame in her own mind, only that she feels some guilt rather abstractly. I'll talk about how the final scene is an exercise in frustration as character after character acts like a moron just so we can have some exposition.
Faerie is not my favorite way to do urban fantasy, but it didn't put me off, so that's something.
An interesting thing about this book is that for all the sexualized visuals (like a fight where October is pantless and possibly even more exposed depending on how you read it - more exposed is how I read it), and some gorey ones, it's remarkably low on the scale for graphic descriptions of sex and violence. I don't mind graphic stuff, but a lot of readers do, and that element may appeal to them. Even the big murder was sanitized a bit and the one sex scene was fade-to-black. She spends quite a few scenes in the middle of the book repeatedly losing her clothing, but it mostly makes sense in context (sometimes I read something and wonder how a character *didn't* lose their clothing).
I plan to read the next one just to see how it goes, if it improves. Overall, I like Toby's snark though I wish at times it were sharper. I am hopeful she becomes more competent and there is less stumbling about until someone tells her what's going on. But I cannot wrap my head around why all these people she treats like crap seem to like her anyway. And I am sure the one character that seemed to hate her that was never dealt with will either be shown to be a villain later, or will come around to loving October like everyone else. Or I suppose that character could end up dead. But I am sure there's no real middle ground here.
So here I am complaining the whole time but I think I liked it.
Wasn’t feeling it - not a huge fan of faes but I love the author so I thought I’d give it a try - maybe some other time
There's a lot to like about this book. The world of the Fae that Toby Daye lives in is fascinating. And I loved the set up - with Toby recently having returned to her life after a job went wrong and she had fourteen years taken from her. The pace of this book is great. There's so much happening and it's all leading up to a great ending (the start and end of this book are great) but I just didn't love it as much as I wanted to. I think it's because I didn't particularly like the character of Toby. She's very practical and pragmatic. And whilst I did like that about her I also found that it meant she lacked a certain emotional depth. So much had been taken from her and she finds herself in some dire circumstances yet she always felt a little cold to me.
I'll continue with this series because I have so many questions about what's going to happen next (and I'm eager to find out if she faces her past). It's a great start to a urban fantasy series and I liked McGuire's take on the fae.
I'll continue with this series because I have so many questions about what's going to happen next (and I'm eager to find out if she faces her past). It's a great start to a urban fantasy series and I liked McGuire's take on the fae.